Building for the future (From Croydon Guardian)

Building for the future

5:14pm Thursday 21st January 2010 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

Craftsman Silas Birtwistle has set up a temporary workshop at Orleans House's Stables Gallery where he is building 12 chairs from driftwood, gathered from the coastlines of British Columbia, Belize, Tanzania and Indonesia, as part of his ambitious A Table from the Sea's Edge project - part of the United Nations’ Year of Biodiversity.

The chairs will eventually be teamed with a 17ft conference table which Birtwistle, a Hampton resident, will build away from the Stables Gallery after a further trip to Belize later in the year, with the aim being to having all of the pieces completed in time for the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Nagoya, Japan, in October.

Birtwistle says the table and chairs will play an important role at the conference, in both a symbolic and literal sense.

He says: “It's a big conference with 192 countries represented and to begin with the table and chairs will be on display and as the conference goes on they will be used for signing agreements as a ceremonial way of raising issues of biodiversity, which is just a huge topic. Symbolically the idea behind project is to make the connection between man's land based activities and the sea.”

Biodiversity refers to the variation of lifeforms with in individual eco-systems and Birtwistle says that it is vital to raise awareness of the threats currently posed to eco-systems across the world.

“Before doing this project I didn’t really know what biodiversity was,” he says. “Now I think It is the most important issue around – the statistics and predicitions about the loss of biodiversity are terrifying.

“If you lose one eco-system, maybe because of climate change or pollution, it will will just have a domino effect. One of CBD's main aims is to raise awareness and my project is a novel way of doing it.”

After creating a number of similar chairs with British driftwood for previous projects, Birtwistle then came up with the idea of making other chairs using driftwood from a variety of countries and A Table from the Sea's Edge went from there.

“I could have made the table and chairs and displayed them in the Conran Shop but the Year of Biodiversity seemed like a good peg to hang it on,” he adds.

“I drafted a proposal and sent it to the CBD in Montreal who have been very have encouraging and supportive. At each point I've worked with a different environmental organisations – including the Toledo Institue in Belize and the World Wildlife Fund in Africa - and I want to help these groups forge links by drawing comparisons the problems they share such as illegal fishing.”

As well as bringing environmental groups on board, Birtwistle has also put the chairs up for sponsorship in order to fund the project. A number of big businesses have already got on board including shipping company Maersk Line transporting the driftwood across the globe.

Although some may question the motives of multinational company’s getting involved in environmental projects, Birtwistle says that without their input no progress will be made in dealing with threats to biodiversity “For me it's not a problem as the big businesses are as much a part of the solution as they are part of the problem,” he says. “I want a diverse array of organisations involved and to bring groups together who wouldn't otherwise get round a table to talk.”

Silas Birtwistle will be at work in the Stables Gallery from Tuesdays – Saturdays from 1pm-4.30pm and on Sundays from 2pm-4.30pm, until March 23. Visit richmond.gov.uk for more information.

A number of chairs are still available for sponsorship from businesses and inviduals. If you are interested in getting involved in A Table from the Sea's Edge, email silas.birtwistle@talktalk.net